Cuomo told heroin antidote bill 'will save lives'

ALBANY – State legislators are urging Gov. Andrew Cuomo to sign a bill into law that would expand access to a powerful antidote to heroin and opiate overdose.

The bill aims to increase access to Naloxone kits, also known as Narcan, the antidote to heroin and opiate overdose, to addicts, their families and other people likely to assist a person at risk of overdose. The measure passed the Legislature in recent months.

Deaths from heroin and other opiates have been on the rise in New York. Overdose is now the leading cause of accidental death, and more people are transitioning from prescription opiates to heroin, the state officials said.

"This bill will save lives," Assembly Health Committee Chair Richard Gottfried, D-Manhattan, said in a statement. "Naloxone is safe, easy to administer, and effective. This legislation will get naloxone in the hands of more people who need it."

The state in 2005 authorized non-medical persons to administer Naloxone to prevent overdose, but parents and family members are being turned away from Naloxone training programs and are not receiving Naloxone kits due to the shortage of prescribers at the programs, advocates said.

The new legislation would allow prescribers to write non-patient specific Naloxone prescriptions for the programs to distribute and expand access to Naloxone kits at pharmacies.

Sen. Greg Ball, R-Patterson, Putnam County, co-sponsored the bill in the state Senate and was recently appointed to the state Senate Task Force on Heroin and Opoid Addiction. The Senate has held hearings around the state about the issue.

"The epidemic of heroin addiction plaguing our communities must be confronted head on," Ball said in a statement last month. "It is sickening to read and hear of the countless deaths in our community. As legislators, we must do everything in our power to protect our children drug addiction."

The bill, passed first in the state Senate in March and passed Tuesday in the state Assembly, now awaits Cuomo's signature.

"We will be reviewing this legislation, as well as other ways to combat heroin addiction in New York," Cuomo spokesman Richard Azzopardi said. "There is no doubt that this is a critically important issue that needs to be addressed."

In April, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman announced the Community Overdose Prevention program, which allows every state and local law enforcement to carry Naloxone. The program is funded through $2.5 million allotted in the state budget.

Nearly 1,000 kits were ordered by law enforcement in the first week of the program, alone, Schneiderman said.